New high school in The Woodlands may start out with no seniors

Published 7:00 pm, Tuesday, October 14, 2003

Conroe Independent School District Superintendent Don Stockton is prepared to recommend the school hold only students in grades 9-11 when it opens in August of 2005.

CISD trustees were given several grade configuration options — and their pros and cons — during a special meeting Tuesday night by Chris Hines, the district's assistant superintendent for secondary education.

They will vote on the issue during their regular monthly meeting next Tuesday, and begin looking at zoning to fulfill the approved configuration.

Those options included opening with grades 9-12, 9-11 and 9-10. The most common way for high schools to open, Hines said, is with grades 9-10.

But the advantages of opening with grades 9-11 at the new campus outweigh those with the other scenarios, he explained.

"It would help us achieve student capacity quicker," he said. "If there were not enough students, it would have an impact on schedules and class offerings."

Opening the school those three grade levels would also allow the new school to participate in all fine arts and most varsity athletics in its first year.

But, that option also leaves questions as to what high school 11th-grade students will attend, Hines noted. "The question is, how do we transition?" he said. "Do we give 10th-grade students the option or not?

"We could allow transfers for hardships, such as siblings."

Hines told trustees he favors the option of opening with grades 9-11, as opposed to opening the school with its planned 9-12 configuration.

"This is one (option) that could happen, but not one I would recommend as an educator," he said. "They (seniors) would be going into the new high school, while we're trying to get them into college.

"That's a tall order."

Stockton agreed with Hines, saying that the 9-11 grade configuration is the only feasible one.

He asked Sherry Sunderman, the district's coordinator of guidance and counseling and former lead counselor at The Woodlands High School, for her opinion on how a change to a new high school for seniors would impact them.

"A change during the last year could be very detrimental," she said. "The competition (to get into college) is fierce right now. To change the game for students in their last year in unconscionable.